News

10 May 2018

SBAS for better positioning funded in the budget

MELBOURNE, THURSDAY 10 MAY 2018: The CRCSI welcomes the announcement that the Australian Government will provide $160.9 million over four years from 2018-19 and $39.2 million in ongoing funding from 2022-23 to improve the accuracy, integrity and availability of satellite navigation through a Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS). This will realise the SBAS test-bed which is currently running across Australia-New Zealand.

The CRCSI is managing the industry based demonstrator projects of the SBAS test-bed and the economic benefits study. And the infrastructure management is being led by Geoscience Australia in partnership with Land Information New Zealand and the global technology companies GMV, Inmarsat and Lockheed Martin.

Dr Graeme Kernich, CRCSI CEO, says the SBAS test-bed is a perfect example of how CRCs can manage collaborative research and development across multiple industry sectors.

“The CRCSI has a strong track record of bringing the best people together from the private sector, government and academia to solve the most complex spatial problems; the SBAS test-bed is one of the finest examples of this,” Kernich says.

“More accurate and reliable satellite positioning technology will improve the safety and efficiency of many sectors across Australia and New Zealand,” he says. “There are 28 projects across ten sectors, with over 150 collaborating organisations currently involved in the test-bed, making the footprint of this world-first trial truly trans-Tasman,” Kernich says.

So, what is SBAS?

“SBAS augments and corrects GPS signals to achieve more accurate and robust positioning,” Kernich explains. “Improvements down from 5m to 10cm are possible.

“We have been coordinating multiple trials of first and second generation SBAS and Precise Point Positioning correction signals since mid-2017. Our industry partners are crying out for this technology because a more precise positioning capability brings far-reaching and lasting impacts,” he says.

“Data analysis results and the economic benefits reported from the test-bed are very promising and will translate across agriculture, aviation, consumer, construction, maritime, mining, rail, road, spatial and utilities.

“This is a formidable technology story and a practical demonstration of downstream space applications. We are looking forward to continuing the test-bed over the coming nine months and assessing the economic and social benefits the operational system will bring to Australia, and possibly New Zealand,” Kernich says.